Apparatus for processing thread or the like



Dec. 24, 1940. w E KNEBUSCH 2,225,641

APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING THREAD THE LIKE Original Filed Feb. 18, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR FIG.-l WALTER F. KNEBUSCH M c. M ATTORNEY Dec. 24, 1940. w. F. KNEBUSCH 2,225,641

APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING THREAD OR THE LIKE Original Filed Feb. 18; 19 35 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 LLLL ' INVENTOR WALTER F. KNEBUSCH ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 24, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Walter F. Knebusch, Dayton, Ohio, assignor to Industrial Rayon Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Delaware Application February 18, 1935, Serial No. 1,113

Renewed February 8; 1940 6Claims.

This invention relates to apparatus for the processing of thread or the like and, more particularly, to machines embodying a plurality of thread-advancing, reels of cantilever construction upon which the thread or the like is wound into a series of spaced, generally helical turns.

One object of the invention is to provide an improved machine embodying a plurality of thread-advancing, reels of cantilever construction in which the unsupportedend of each is in opposition to the supported end of the next succeeding reel in the series, for more convenient transfer of the thread or the like from reel to reel. Another object of the invention is to provide a machine of the character described made up of a series of units each embodying the necessary reels to perform the desired processing steps upon the threador the like, the reels of each unit being so disposed that the thread or I the like passes from the discharge end of one reel to the receiving end of the next reel. with the reels of all units arranged for convenient access. Still a further object of the invention is to provide a machine in which the several reels of each unit are parallel to but reversed end for end with respect to each other.

Further objects of the invention are in part obvious and in part will appear more in detail hereinafter.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 represents a front elevation of a portion of one form of machine embodying the invention, the reels being shown diarammatically; Fig. 2 is a detail sectional elevation on the line 2-2, Fig. 1, the bath circulation system being omitted; Fig. 3 is a detail sectional elevation on the line 3-3, Fig. 1, illustrating the bath circulation system; Fig. 4 is a front elevation, partly in section on the line 4-4, Fig. 5, of a portion of another machine embodying 40, the invention, with the reels shown diagrammatically; Fig. 5 is an end view from the right in Fig. 4, with parts broken away and in section; Fig. 6 is a sectional elevation on the line 6-6,

Fig. 4, showing the details of the reel: Fig. '7 is 5 a plan corresponding to Fig. 6; Fi 8 is an end view from the left in Fig. 6; and Fig. 9 is a detail sectional elevation on the line 9-9, Fi 6. v

The invention is capable of use in or in connection with the treatment or handling of any thread-like article including the productionof multiple filament artificial silk thread by ny of the usual processes, such as the viscose, cuprammonium, or cellulose acetate processes. However, for convenience but in no sense of limitation the invention has .been illustrated and will be described hereinafter in connection with the manufacture of multiple filament artifical silk thread by the viscose process. In such process an alkaline solution of cellulose xanthate is extruded into a salt or acid spinning bath, is allowed to coagulate to form a thread, and is treated in thread form in various ways and by various reagents, such as sulfuric acid, a soluble sulfide, bleaching solution, an antichlor. reagent, soap solution, etc., together with any desirable intervening washing steps, drying, twisting and winding into package form.

The machine may take various forms, but will usually include a plurality of like units each of which is capable of producing one or more distinct multiple filament threads. Each unit preferably embodies a complete series of the necessary parts for converting the viscose into a finished or partly finished multiple filament thread, including a spinning nozzle, a series of threadadvancing reels suflicient in number to enable the necessary processing steps to be performed upon the thread, and the necessary tanks, vessels and pipes for supplying liquid reagents and subjecting the thread to the action thereof. Associated therewith is a collecting device on which the finished thread is wound into convenient package form.

For convenience, but in no sense of limitation, the drawings show arrangements in which the reels are all mounted with their axes horizontal, although this is not essential.

The machine shown in Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive is of relatively simple form and for convenience in illustration is shown only in part. Some of the reels and the collecting device are omitted. It comprises a plurality, two being shown, of separate units marked respectively A, B operated from the same power source but otherwise alike, so that description of one will sufilce for all. Each unit comprises a. plurality of cantilever thread advancing reels I, la, lb, etc., to which the thread is led in succession. It comes to the first of said reels from the usual spinning nozzle, by means of which viscose is extruded in the usual way into a spinning bath 3, the multiple filament thread 4 being led through the spinning bath and over guides 5 to the driving and thread supporting end of the first reel I, along which it progresses as the reel rotates as a series of spaced, generally helical turns. The thread is discharged from the unsupported end of the first reel and is led thence to the supported end of the. second reel la, along which it progresses as beiore, being then conducted to the third reel lb, and so on until it reaches the collecting device (not shown).

In the form'illustrated'the reels of each unit arejin parallel relation, their axes being substantially horizontal. Succeeding reels extend oppositely to each other in de'scendingorder, each of said reels having its axis at a lower level than the axis of the next preceding reel in the series. Also, the discharge end of each reel is in opposition to the receiving end of the next following reel.. Therefore, in the form shown in Fig. l, in unit B, the thread is led from the spinning nozzle to the left hand end of the first ,reel l,

progresses along it to the right, is then-conducted to the receiving end of the second reel la, moves along-said reel to the left and is then transferred to the third reel lb, moving along it to the right, and so on. All reels rotate in the same direction in the sense that, looking at the machine as in Fig. 1, the upper portion of each reel is approaching and the lower portion of each reel is recedifi'girom the observer, so that the stretches of thread running from reel to reel all lie at the front of the machine or near the observer.

All of the reels are of cantilever form, in the sense thatihe rotating parts of the reel are supported from one end only of the reel, leaving the other end of the reel unobstructed by anything impeding the discharge of the thread. These reels may be anysuitable form of thread-advancing reel; i. e., one in which the helical turns are continuously formed, successively advanced along and unwound from the reel in the manner described. Each reel, for example, may be and is shown of the form of the typical reel shown in Fig. 6, although, of course, Fig. 6 shows the reel as used in the machine of Fig. 4. That is to say, the reel may be of the type and operate in the same manner as the reel shown, described and claimed in prior application Serial No. 652,089,

filed January 16, 1933, corresponding 'to British Patent No. 413,414; 1. e., it may consist of a pinrality of interdigitating, preferably rigid sets of bar members having limited relative but common rotary movement in the operation of the reel as a whole.

Referring now to Fig. 6, each reel includes two the axis of said shaft and therefore is concentric therewith. Thisreel member includes a body portion of generally cylindrical form with its periphery slotted to form a series of alternating bars I: and recesses ll, the body being mounted upon a sleeve l5 keyed to the shaft l2 and held in place thereon by a cap screw it threaded into the shaft; the head of the cap screw passing through and clamping in place an imperforate disc Ito,- the beveled periphery of which seats against and forms a sealed jointwith the'correspondingly beveled end of the imperforate wall of the drum like body of member l0. Disc lia may be made of hard rubber and the cap screw may be made ofor coated with rubber or any other material not afiected by the chemicals of the liquidbaths. The body of member ll, as described, is therefore a hollow drum with its inner chamber entirely closed or sealed, so that no treating liquid or bath gains access to the inner surfaces of the body, but merely flows into and out of the recesses l4 and over the surfaces of the bars of the two reel members, for more intimate contact with the thread being treated, the arrangement being therefore economical of treating liquor and having other advantages.

The other member ll of the reel may be called its'eccentric member, because while it is generally of cylindrical form, it is mounted with its axis both oilset slightly from and also askew or in clined to the axis of the shaft l2, for reasons described more fully in my prior application above referred to. The member II, as shown, comprises a head'formed of inner and outer rings [8,

IS, the former of which has peripheral slots to 1 sleeve 22 journalled to rotate upon a supporting tubular member 23, which surrounds shaft l2 and is spaced therefrom. Y

The reel members, or atleast those which contact with corrosive materials, are preferably made of sueh materials and in such manner as to be unafl'ected by bath liquor or other reagents. In the form shown, member ID is a mass of hard rubber, Bakelite or similar material molded around or in such manner as to include the central metal bearing sleeve l5. As to member, its parts are all molded of similar material, the ring l8 being molded around or to include the central metal bearing sleeve 22. Screws, nuts, bars and other parts of the reel are either made of or coated with similar material which is unaffected by bath liquor or reagents, or are shielded from the liquor by washers, packings, boots or the like, all as will be readily understood.

Member 23 is supported with its axis slightly offset from and also askew or inclined with relation to the axis of shaft l2, the supporting means being preferably of a form enabling the degree or askew or inclined relation to be adjusted or varied, not so much for the purpose of varying such inclination during operation of the machine as for adjusting it to the same value on all corresponding reels on the same machine, during the original or initial setting up or assembling of such machine, for securing uniformity in operation'of the several units. The particular form and arrangement of the supporting means for member 23, by which it is adjustable as described,

forms no part of thepresent invention and therefore will not be described in detail except to say that it may be of the same form illustrated and described in an application for Manufacture of artificial silk, filed of even date herewith, Serial No. 7,114 by Walter F. Knebusch and Alden H. Burkholder, to which reference may be had if necessary or desirable.

The reels of the various units maybe mounted and assembled in any convenient manner where a multiple unit machine is desired, and usually are so mounted as to be capable of drive and control from the same source or sources of power. As illustrated in Figs. 1' to 3 inclusive, the machine -as a whole is double faced, presenting to the operator on each of its opposite faces a series of units lying side by side. All of the reels lie with their, axeshorizontal and paralleling the length of the machine as a whole. As illustrated,

the .reels of all units in the machine are driven by a horizontal operating shaft 24 at the top of the machine operated from any suitable source of power such as an electric motor. The shaft 24 at intervals lengthwise of the machine is connected by bevel gears 25 to vertical shafts 28 connected in turn by bevel gears 21 to horizontal shafts 28 which extend out toward the front and rear faces of the machine and enter gear boxes 29 within which each shaft 28 is provided with a spiral gear 30 driving a spiral gear II on one of the reel shafts l2.

With the arrangement described, rotation of the shaft 24 drives the shafts ii of all of the reels, and by proper arrangement of the gearing, including direction of the lead of the spiral gears 30, 3|,all of the reels are driven in such direction that thethread being formed or treated in each unit will progress downward in the reels of that unit and will lie at the front of the machine near to the operator.

Any suitable means may be provided for sunplying reagents to the several reels, such as reagent distributors 32, one located at each of the reels. The reagent delivered to the reel by the distributor is collected in a drain trough 33 from which it flows by' suitable conduits either to the sewer, as where the liquor is wash water to be thrown away, or to a make-up reservoir and then to the proper pump for recirculation, when the liquor is of a character worth saving; The reagent circulation system forms no part of the present invention. The distributors may be of any suitable form, such as that shown in a prior application for Reagent distributor, filed September 2, 1933, Serial No. 688,026, by Walter F. Knebusch and Foster Hillix (Patent No. 2,054,087).

Figs. 4 to 8 illustrate another form of machine embodying the invention. This machine is of the same form shown, described and claimed in the said copending application for Manufacture of artificial silk, Serial No. 7,114,,fl1ed of even date herewith by Walter F. Knebusch and Alden H. Burkholder, to which reference may be had for a more complete description if desirable or necessary. This machine differs from the machine of Fig. 1 in that the reels of each unit are not only arranged in progressive parallel relation, but they are also in stepped form, with the driving and thread receiving end of each reel opposite to and directly beneath the thread discharging end of the next preceding reel, but with the reels so arranged that the helical turns of thread progress in the same direction along all reels. Here, also, instead of the reels being presented broadside to the operator, they are presented endwise, their open ends facing the operator for convenience in his manipulation and control of the thread and its process of treatment or production. A brief description of this arrangement will be sufficient for the purposes of this application.

The drive shaft 40 is provided at intervals with spiral gears 4i, each of which drives a spiral gear 42 on a short shaft 43 connected by change speed gears 44 to a shaft 45 extending lengthwise of the machine and arranged to drive corresponding reels in different units. At each unit, for example, the shaft 45 is provided with a spiral gear 46, Fig. 6, driving a spiral gear 41 loosely rotatable on the reel shaft i2 and capable of being operatively connected to it by a clutchmarked generally 49. Shaft I2 is connected to,

supports and drives the concentric member it of the reel which, in turn, as before, drives the eccentric member of the reel. The various parts of the reel, including its concentric and eccentric members, its bars and other parts, have been heretofore described and therefore require no detailed description. Here also each reel is provided with suitable means, not shown, for supplying and taking away the treating liquid or bath to which the thread is to be subjected at that reel.

In Figs. 4, 5 and 6, the first (the upper one) of the four reels of which each unit is composed, is shown as tapered or in a general way oi. increasing diameter from its thread receiving toward its thread discharging end. Any or all of the reels of either of the machines shown in Figs. 1 and 5, or indeed of any machine embodying the invention, may be of such tapered form. Thistaper is for the purpose of imparting a limited amount of stretch to the thread as it progresses along a reel, for the practice of the well known process of stretch spinning, but any other suitable arrangement for stretch spinning purposes may be employed, such as the production of an increased peripheral speed at one reel over the peripheral speed at the preceding reel by differences in reel diameters or angular velocities, as will be readily understood.

In both forms of the invention the reels are open-ended in the sense that they are both supported and driven entirely from one end of the 7 reel, the other end of the reel being free of any shaft extension. In both forms, also, the thread receiving end of each reel is opposite to the thread discharge end of the next preceding reel. In the form shown in Fig. 4 the reels are in stepped relation, each projecting endwise out beyond the other and the thread travels along all. reels in 'the same direction, or toward the operator, whereas, in the form shown in Fig. 1 the reels are presented broadside to the operator and each reel as a whole is alongside of and opposite to the next preceding and the next following reel, and the thread travels in one direction along one reel and in the opposite direction along the next reel of the series. However, in both forms, during the initial threading up, when the early turns of thread reach the discharge end of the first reel,

- they pass off from its open free end and drop or travel outwardly to the next reel, engaging the surface thereof, so that they are wound upon and travel along the next reel, being then transferred to the third reel by like operations, and so on. Transfer may occur automatically, but, if desired, the transfer operation maybe eifected by manual operations.

Any number of reels may be associated in the manner described in the form of a single unit likewise, a given machine may include any desirable number of units, as will be readily understood. The associated reels of a unit may be employed for the production of artificial silk thread by leading the thread from the spinning nozzle in succession to and along the several reels of the unit and finally to a collecting or packaging device; but, if desired, thread or the like already formed may be passed over one or more of the reels described for treatment of any kind. Other advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

It is intended that the patent shall cover, by

suitable expression in the appended claims, whatever features of patentable novelty reside in the invention.

What I claim is:

1. Apparatus for handling thread or the like comprising, in combination, a plurality of unitary thread advancing reels to which the thread or the like travels in sequence each of which is supported from-one end only, the unsupported end of the reel being unobstructed by, anything impeding the discharge of the thread or the like, driving means arranged to turn each of said reels in that direction which effects advance of the thread or the like toward the unsupported end thereof, and means for supplying thread or the like to the supported end of the first reel, the supported end of each succeeding reel being located in apposite relation to the unsupported end of itspredecessor,

2. Apparatus for handling thread or the like comprising, in combination, a plurality of unitary thread advancing reels mounted with their axes in parallel relation to which the thread or the like travels in sequence each of which is supported from one end only, the unsupported end of the reel being unobstructed by anything impeding the discharge of the threador the like,'driving means arranged to turn each of said reels in that direction which efiects advance of the thread or the like toward the unsupported end thereof, and means for supplying thread or the like to the supported end of the first reel, the supported end of each succeeding reel being located in apposite relation to the unsupported end of its predecessor.

'3. Apparatus for handling thread or the like comprising, in combination, a plurality of unitary thread advancing reels, to which the thread or the like travels in sequence each of which is provided with means for supporting and driving the reel from one end only, the unsupported end of each reel being unobstructed by anything impeding the discharge of the thread or the like, the,

driving, means for each reel being arranged to turn said reel in that direction which effects advance of the thread or the-like toward the unsupported end thereof and the supported and unsupported ends of each reel after the first being respectively in apposite relation to the unsupported and supported ends of its predecessor.

4. Apparatus for handling thread or the like comprising, in combination, two thread-advancing reels to which the thread or the like travels in sequence each of which embodies a plurality of interdigitating sets of bar members having limited relative but common rotary movement and, associated therewith, means supporting the reel as a whole from one end thereof in such manner that the other end is unobstructed by driving or supporting means, said reels being mounted with their axes generally parallel but with the unsupported end of one reel in apposite relation to the supported end of the other reel.

5. Apparatus for handling thread or the like comprising, in combination, two thread-advancing reels to which the thread or the like travels in sequence each of which embodies a plurality of interdigitating sets of bar members having limited relative but common rotary movement and, associated therewith, means for supporting the reel as a whole from one end thereof in such manner that the other end is unobstructed by driving or supporting means, said reels being mounted with their axes generally parallel but with the unsupported and supported ends of each reel respectively in apposite relation to the supported and unsupported ends of the other reel.

6. Apparatus for handling thread or the like comprising, in combination. a plurality of cantilever thread-advancing reels to which the thread or the like passes in sequence each of which is supported from one end only thereof, the supported and unsupported ends of each reel after the first being respectively in apposite relation to the unsupported and supported ends of the preceding reel.

WALTER RKNEBUSCH. 

